Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire restacking a leather handle

anybody here rebuild a leather and brass knife handle.

I have one on the table and am wondering if the leather needs any kind of treatment, I am using 1quarter inch thick saddle or boot sole leather.

norm

bump

A buddy of mine puts glue or epoxy of some sort between the layers and tightens the whole works down while it cures. Afterwards he'll shape it, then when it is shaped to his satisfaction, he'll coat the leather with pine resin which seals it and gives it a tacky feel. It's the best leather handle I've had my hands on.

Leather workers use rubber cement to glue stuff together but that's just to hold it untill they get it sewed. I've never seen leather specific glue at any of the suppliers I buy leather stuff from.

As far as finish goes, that pine tar/bee's wax mixture they sell would be worth a look.
I've also heard of soaking in Neet's but that was for restoration IIRC.
Not much help but I'd sure like to see it when you're done.
Luck

I have built a couple of knives from scratch with leather handles but I bought pre-punched leather pieces to make it easier.

thanks for the replies, i am sure that the factories have all the stamps for cutting and makeing the mounting hole, i`ve cut it all by hand and used a 3-16 drill then hammered it on the handle to start shaping, more brass shim stk .30 thou is comming tommorow.

it`s a old soligen carbon bowie style bout 6`` blade had almost no leather left on it, once i have the brass spacers made up i can finish shaping it, I`ll take some pics and some how get them posted.

norm

My brother and I have done a number of them and have produced some very serviceable handles. We glue them up with epoxy and then rough shape the leather. We then soak as much of the thin watery crazy glue( not mention to be used as a brand name as I have no clue who makes what we use) as the leather will accept. This does a great job of hardening up the leather and it acts almost like a piece of plastic when final shaping and sanding is done.

thanks , crasy glue i use does not like a lot of water so i think i`ll stick with pine tar, bee`s wax idea or mabey an gun oil that hardens to shellack , i.ll try that on other leather first might b to slick for a handle.

norm

Most hobby stores will have cyanoacrylate glue in various viscosities. The thin stuff is called "insta-cure" and comes with a blue label. Most store rebadge the stuff but the main label stays.

Insta-cure CA-glue

Leather:
http://www.knifemaking.com/category-s/565.htm

Bonding:
http://www.knifemaking.com/category-s/580.htm

I don't really make stacked leather knives much, but I know the basics. A trick to stacking leather is to take a bolt and stack your leather wet and compress it and let it dry, then put it on the tang (in the same order). I like to fill the space around the tang with a medium cure 2 part epoxy and let it dry, Sand it out, nice and smooth and it should come out pretty nice. I like to use super thin cyanoacrylate. It makes for a pretty durable finish. By compressing the leather wet prior to stacking it on the tang, you'll take the slop out of it so it won't move around on you.

348srfun and I have put a good many leather handles on our knives. Mountain man got it right. To add a few details, each leather washer needs to be cut to fit the tang. This will eliminate any twisting or looseness. The washers are glued together individually by coating them in slow cure epoxy, sliding them on the knife's tang and then using a press to compress them while the epoxy cures. mtnman1's method of compressing the wet leather works too. It just takes the leather too long to dry out around here and we have found we get the same result by compressing the leather that is soaked with epoxy.

Don't use contact or barge cement to glue the leather washers together. You will need something that penetrates the leather to seal it, as well as bond the leather washers together.

After the epoxy cures, shape the handle and soak it with the thin superglue. You will still probably want to put a finish on the handle after shaping and polishing the leather. This makes a tough, hard wearing handle that has a traditional look.

A thread like this is better with a few pictures

Fine looking result right there. This is a great thread.

thanks you have given me some good ideas, i like the pics as well,this is going to be a real learning experiance doing every thing by hand. I actually have to hammer the leather on to the tang , thats how tight it is and eace piece of brass will have to be hand filed to slip on tight. I do have the leather glue that was posted as well as some dye ans when I ordered more super glue 2 months ago they had a new one that has some rubber compound qualities that i`ll try on the finished handle.
how do you fine grind ,,sand the leather and spacers near the end for the smooth finish.

norm

It is important for all the leather washers to be flat when they are on the tang. If they are too tight, they have a tendency to bulge up around the tang. If it does even a little, it will compound as you put additional washers on the tang and cause you some problems with the later washers laying flat. I always pre-fit the washers before I use the epoxy, making sure that all handle parts lay flat with no light showing in between. Then I take them off, keeping them in order, and glue each one on individually. I then place the handle in a press, forcing the washers together and compressing the leather. A little extra time fitting the washers really makes a difference in the finished handle.

With the epoxy gluing the washers together and setting up under pressure, the handle is going to be hard. It will cut almost like wood. I use a belt grinder to rough shape the handle but a wood rasp will work fine, if a little slower. When I start to get close, I will soak the leather with the thin super glue. When this hardens you can file and sand it like you would a piece of plastic. You might need to re soak it from time to time as you cut it down depending on how much leather you are removing. The super glue will soak in pretty deep, but it won't penetrate all the way to the tang. I like to put on a final coat of super glue then finish sanding with 400 grit paper to remove any superglue that didn't soak in.

I usually put a finish on using several thin coats of True oil and when it has dried I'll put on a coat of good wax then rub it off with a piece of heavy cloth. If it is done right you wont be able to feel the rings of leather or where the guard or butt cap meets the leather.

Tag

that`s basicly what i am doing, i cut the initial leather washers ,beat them on to the tang screwed on the end and started grinding to get a rough shape, i have 1-2 extra pieces on incase i screw up and i now know that with the brass shims and other decorations ,,shims ,, i put in i`ll have extra ones
If you are putting color ,leather dye on some when would you do that.
I am at the stage of taking off the leather washers to start on the brass hilt and spacers, they will be hand fit and tight on the tang as well.

norm

If you put dye on the leather after you glue it up, the areas where the glue saturated the leather won't take the dye the same as the areas where there is no glue. I don't dye the leather washers in our handles for that reason.

If I was going to try it, I'd make up some trial pieces out of scraps to determine which way works the best before I messed up a bunch of hard work. I would be interested in how you do it and how it turns out.

I wouldn't be cutting your washers so tight your "beating them" on the tang. I don't think you'll get even compression that way nor is there any value in doing it with them that tight. If you want to dye the leather and if you use the method I described, I'd compress the washers, dye them and compress them a second time when they're dyed. Then glue them up. If you follow Mathsr's process which is very similar but is compressing them right on the tang as they're glued rather than with water on a bolt I'd dye them beforehand and let them dry completely before starting.

OK tapping them vigorusly, by time they are off and on a few times i anticipate that they will be snug with no extra material between sections. I am thinking that i`ll get them ground down close to outside fit then dye then assemble with the glue let it set then finish forming with the CGlue set forfinal grind and sand.

All good info and as i progress i am refining my methods.

thanks
norm